A Summer At Hogwarts
by Pelecanus
Summary: Harry does not want to return to the Dursleys after his first year at Hogwarts so he does not. But when he begins to discover things, what should have been a peaceful summer becomes complicated.
1. Chapter 1

Harry sat down on his trunk with a sigh. He had finished packing all of his belongings, being careful to conceal the oversized clothes that he got from Dudley from the other boys in his dorm. Soon, they would all board the Hogwarts Express.

His first year at Hogwarts had some horrible moments- most notably his terrifying encounter with Voldemort- and he certainly wouldn't miss Snape or Malfoy. But unlike his friends and all the other students he had overheard talking excitedly, he was not looking forward to returning to his family.

He would miss playing Quidditch and spending time with his friends.

He would also miss being allowed to eat three good meals every day and not being forced to do chores all day. It was possible, he supposed, that the Dursleys would be wary of him now that he had a magic wand and knew how to use it, but he just couldn't imagine them suddenly treating him well. Now that he knew what it was like to have friends without Dudley scaring them away, to get Christmas presents, and to play freely when he wasn't doing homework, he couldn't bear the thought of returning to a life that once seemed normal to him.

Plus, after a decade of being vulnerable to the Dursley's whims, he feared that they would somehow prevent him from returning to Hogwarts. What if they found out he was actually defenceless because he was not allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts? What if they hurt Hedwig? He really wished he were allowed to stay at Hogwarts over the summer holidays as he had in the winter.

He still had over an hour before he had to leave. Ron was busy searching for all the clothes and books that he had misplaced and Hermione had told them she needed to return several books to the library. So Harry decided to walk around the castle alone. It had become more like his home than the Dursley's house had ever been. Perhaps seeing his favourite places again would make it easier for him to be away from it for several weeks.

After checking nobody was around, he pulled his invisibility cloak out of his trunk and put it on. He really wasn't in the mood to talk to people and especially didn't want to have to answer questions about how he and his friends earned so many points for Gryffindor.

Eventually, Harry realized it was almost time to leave. He began to pace in frustration. It wasn't fair that he had to return to the Dursleys after everything he just went through. He wanted somewhere safe and comfortable to stay where nobody could find him and send him away, where Aunt Petunia could not yell at him, and Dudley could not hit him, and also where he would not be whispered about, stared at or attacked by an evil wizard. He was so focused on these thoughts that it took him a moment to notice a door that he could not remember seeing earlier.

Welcoming the excuse to delay leaving, he pushed open the door and stepped into a large and unfamiliar room. His mouth fell open. For a moment, he worried that he had wandered into a professor's private room but surely they would have ways to keep students out. The room contained a four-poster bed, bathtub, toilet, sink, bookshelf, table, wooden chair, armchair, kitchen, and fireplace.

Feeling curious, he closed the door behind him and began looking around. The red and gold bed covers and curtains reminded him of Gryffindor. The bathtub was larger than any he had ever seen. The stove in the kitchen turned on easily but the fridge and pantry were empty. He walked to the bookshelf and began reading the book titles. Harry never shared Hermione's love for reading but these books seemed interesting. He opened a couple and realized that they were appropriate to his age and limited knowledge of magic. There was even a shelf for fiction.

Suddenly, it occurred to him that he had been exploring this room for a long time. Poor Ron would be waiting for him and the Hogwarts Express was probably about to leave. He ran out of the room, not stopping until he burst into his dormitory.

The other boys and their belongings were gone. He spotted a scrap of parchment on his trunk with barely legible writing:

"Percy made everyone leave. See you on the train. Ron."

Harry had forgotten the prefects would inspect the dorms and then escort the first years to the train. If he didn't hurry, he would miss it. But, although he knew he needed to find someone immediately and ask for directions to the train, he did not move.

An odd idea occurred to him. Nobody seemed to be using the room he had just found. He had not found clothes, a toothbrush or anything personal. In fact, maybe, just maybe, nobody else knew about the room. If that was true, he could hide there and never be discovered. His invisibility cloak would help him sneak in and out to get food. The Dursleys would probably be relieved not to find him on the platform so he doubted they would report him as missing. Hopefully, Ron and Hermione would assume he was on the train and think it was just bad luck when they didn't find him.

The more he thought about, the less foolish it seemed. So Harry tucked his trunk under his invisibility cloak with him and retraced his steps.

He stopped in horror when he found the door had disappeared again. It was easy to get lost in Hogwarts and he considered the possibility that he was in the wrong place. But no, he was certain. He tried to remember what he was doing when he first saw the door. Perhaps he should wish very hard. He squeezed his eyes closed and thought as hard as he could about how much he wanted everything that room could do for him. Nervously, he opened his eyes. There was still no door.

He began to panic. The idea of not seeing the Dursleys, at least not today, had become so appealing that he didn't want to think about running to catch the train. Perhaps he could hide somewhere else but he could not think of anywhere else where he was not likely to be found. Unconsciously, he began to pace and finally remembered that he had been doing that when he discovered the room. He almost shouted in joy and relief when the door materialized.

For the first time in his life, he might enjoy his summer holiday.

Author's Note: To confirm, in this story Harry found the Room of Requirements at the end of his first year. I made some minor edits to this chapter after the first posting.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry half-expected someone to burst into the room and drag him back to the Dursleys. He reminded himself that probably nobody knew or cared that he was missing. After all, nobody had commented whenever the Dursleys locked him in his cupboard for a long time. All the same, he stayed in the room, with his invisibility cloak nearby so he could quickly dive under it if the door opened.

He knew he would need to find some food. There was absolutely none in the room and Hermione had once told him that food could not be created by magic. He could miss a few meals but the problem would no go away by itself. He had never thought to question where the food at Hogwarts came from. Was there a kitchen somewhere?

This whole plan was beginning to seem a little foolish. He tried not to think about having to reveal himself to beg for food.

He imagined what Hermione would say. Aside from lecturing him for breaking hundreds of rules, she would probably explain something she read in a book. Feeling a little hopeful, he began searching the bookshelves for anything related to Hogwarts.

At last, he found a book called "House-Elves at Hogwarts" that had a chapter on cooking. Apparently, there were hundreds of small magical creatures that did all of the cleaning and cooking. Harry had just assumed those things were done by magic. It reminded him a little of all the things he did for the Dursleys that they took for granted. On the other hand, the author implied that house-elves were barely more intelligent than domesticated animals so maybe it was not so bad.

In any case, the book mentioned how to get into the kitchen. All he had to do now was wait until nighttime, when he would be less likely to encounter someone, sneak into the kitchen under his invisible cloak, and take as much food as he could carry.

It would be stealing but he promised himself that he would donate a lot of money to the school after he had a chance to return to Gringotts.

He read a book about defensive magic to pass the time. If only he had known some of this when he tried to stop Quirrell from getting the philosopher's stone. Then again, it was Quirrell who should have taught him. He began to feel upset by how little he knew. Students who grew up in magical families probably knew so much more. Plus he probably could have learned a lot more in his first year if he had not been so fixated on worrying about the philosopher's stone being stolen.

Eventually, he knew he should not delay any longer.

Nervously, he put on his invisibility cloak and left the room. He found the painting of a bowl of fruit quite easily. He felt silly tickling the pear but, as the book described, it transformed into a doorknob. Desperately hoping nobody was on the other side, he opened the door.

He glimpsed some tables and pots but was fixated by several strange creatures staring back at him. After a terrifying moment, he remembered that they were seeing an empty doorway. He briefly considered returning at another time in the hopes that the kitchen would be deserted. But, feeling very hungry, he quickly stepped into the room before the door closed.

The elves chattered to each other and ran towards the door. Harry tried to move away but then, seeing his way blocked by a swarm of elves, instead tried to flatten himself against the wall. It was pointless. While one elf opened the door, presumably to check if anyone was waiting outside, another elf brushed against Harry and shouted in surprise. Soon there were several elves gathered around his legs, touching and tugging at his invisibility cloak.

He pulled out his wand but could not think of a spell to repel them. So he quickly returned his wand to his pocket and removed the hood of his cloak.

"Don't hurt me! I was just hungry. I didn't mean any harm," he said frantically.

The elves jumped back in surprise, tilting their heads back to stare incredulously at his exposed shoulders and head.

"Master is student?" one of them asked. "But students is going on train this morning."

"I didn't want to leave. Please don't tell anyone," he begged.

The elves whispered amongst themselves before turning to him and nodding their agreement.

"Is master wanting to eat?" asked another elf, much to Harry's surprise.

After Harry hesitantly nodded, they rushed away and returned with more dishes than he could possibly take. He thanked them repeatedly, feeling uncomfortable. They seemed quite pleased although Harry could not understand why they would enjoy having to cook for another person. In the end, he accepted a tray of food and agreed to return the following night for more.

He thought about the friendly house-elves as he walked back to what he had already begun to think of as his room. Whoever wrote the book he read clearly had never really met a house-elf.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry was not used to having so much free time except in the many hours that he had spent alone in the darkness of his cupboard. Without chores, homework, friends, Quidditch or evil wizards trying to steal the philosopher's stone, he was not entirely sure what to do for the first several days after everyone left.

He visited the house elves each night but their attention and eagerness to please him made him uncomfortable, so he usually left after awkwardly thanking them for the food. The food was always delicious, just like the food that he had eaten in the Great Hall all year, but now he could not stop thinking about the house elves as he ate.

In primary school he learned that Muggles almost eliminated slavery a long time ago. Yet it seemed to be perfectly normal for wizards and witches to own house elves. Even more disturbingly, the house elves considered their situation to be not just normal but absolutely wonderful. They seemed to be intelligent and he saw them using what appeared to be quite advanced magic as they cooked. If he had that much power, he certainly would not do everything for the Dursleys.

So, one night, as he accepted another heavy tray of food, he impulsively asked, "Why do you do all this? I mean working for people for free. Surely if you asked to be free, nobody could stop you."

Several elves gasped and he got the impression that he had said something really horrible.

At last one elf declared, "We is liking our masters and our work." It was a surprise to hear an elf sounding slightly annoyed when they were usually so ridiculously cheerful.

Clearly his exciting idea of house elves rising up against their owners was out of the question. As much as he wanted Draco Malfoy and other rich wizards and witches to do their own cooking and cleaning, none of these elves would let it happen. Still, he had not been sorted into Gryffindor house for knowing when it was time to stop trying something.

"But you could still work for them except that they would have to pay you and you could have holidays and change jobs when you want."

There was a chorus of responses: Where would they want to go? What would they do with money? Feeling quite frustrated, Harry shrugged, accepted some extra dessert, thanked them and left.

Alone in the mysterious room, he found himself doing a surprising amount of reading. At first, he tried to find out more about the house elves but there seemed to be very little written about them, even about their ability to do complex magic without wands. Humans liked to have things done for them and house elves did things for them. Nobody seemed to care why as long as that convenient situation continued.

In addition to the centaurs and goblins he met, there were apparently many other magical creatures that were as intelligent as humans, like merpeople and sphinxes. For some reason, his lessons at Hogwarts had taught him very little about them.

The more he read, the more he realized that he should not have assumed that the magical world was similar to the Muggle world. And at the same time he realized that Voldemort was not the only problem in the magical world. It was not the wonderful place that he mistook it for when Hagrid first whisked him away from the Dursleys and introduced him to magic. 

Author's note: If anyone read this before, sorry for the long wait for this chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

As much as Harry loved being at Hogwarts, he became lonely during the daytime and began to make small talk with the elves each night. They knew a surprising amount about Hogwarts and happily answered Harry's questions (without giving away anything that they felt their masters trusted them to keep private). Many of their families had worked at Hogwarts for generations and even the youngest elves remembered the stories that their parents and grandparents told them. They may be illiterate and uneducated but they had vast knowledge of certain things and were apparently very observant.

One night Harry was chatting with the elves about the many students who, like him, had found the kitchen.

"Your father and his friends were coming here very often," said one elf.

Harry froze. It had not occurred to him that they would remember his parents. He didn't even know where to start with all the questions we wanted to ask but they were very patient as he eagerly soaked in more information than anyone had told him before.

Gradually, he pieced together an idea of his parent's school days. He was surprised to learn that James Potter had been part of a group of four students who were constantly misbehaving. Most of the stories about them were harmless and funny but, although the elves would never speak badly about a wizard, he sensed their disapproval as they told some stories. It sounded as if they had acted a little too much like Dudley, especially in their treatment of Snape. It was frustrating to think that maybe his dad really had earned Snape's hatred, even if it was still really unfair for Snape to be so horrible to Harry. Ever since Hagrid explained that his parents had not actually died in a car crash, he had believed they were good people in every way.

He was also disturbed to learn that one of his dad's best friend was imprisoned for mass murder. And one of his friends survived the war but, for some reason, Harry had never even heard of him. He wondered why that man could not have raised him instead of the Dursleys but the elves were strangely quiet about him.

At least his mother seemed to have been as he imagined except that she was friends with Snape in her first few years at Hogwarts. That was a shock for Harry.

It was nearly sunrise when Harry crept back to his room, feeling as if everything that he had believed about his parents had been turned upside down.

* * *

He continued reading the books in the room.

He found a book on the history of Voldemort's influence in the magical world. It was quite frustrating that he had endured a year of magical history lessons and memorised so many names and dates of goblin wars but had never been taught that Voldemort had followers with the predictably disturbing name "death eaters." The idea that some of them might have avoided prison and still be interested in violent actions, such as avenging the boy who somehow killed their leader, scared him a lot. It also seemed like something that Dumbledore should have mentioned to him.

He began to practice spells more, especially defensive spells. He no longer limited himself to reviewing those in the first year curriculum. When he left the room after the first practice session, he returned to find that it had adapted itself with various targets set up in one corner. He must have unintentionally wished for something slightly different than when he originally just wanted somewhere to hide.

* * *

Even a room that apparently magically formed to fulfil Harry's wish could not hold his interest for too long. Eventually, he became convinced that the professors had left the castle. It was strange to think of living in ordinary lives and playing with grandchildren but very convenient for him. Sometimes he saw smoke rising from Hagrid's hut. He tempting to visit him - imaging his surprise - but he wasn't sure that Hagrid would be able to deceive Dumbledore. Since there was little chance of being caught, he began venturing outside while carefully avoiding the area around Hagrid's hut and keeping his invisibility cloak on.

One morning, he was deep in thought about what he had learned about parents when he was brought back to the present by the sight of a snake, sprawled in the sun where he had been about to step. Remembering his conversation with the snake at the zoo, he said, "Hi!"

"Who's there?" the snake demanded, sounding alarmed and raising its little head to look around.

Although Harry had half-expected it to speak, he took a quick step backwards and nearly tripped over his cloak. He really didn't want to risk being visible so he said, as apologetically as he could, "I'm sorry I have to stay invisible. I'm not going to hurt you."

"You can speak," it said, now sounding more curious than afraid.

"Of course," Harry replied, feeling confused.

"The other noisy creatures cannot," the snake explained, "They just make nonsense sounds and stomp on everything without looking."

"None of them has ever talked to you?" Harry confirmed.

"They cannot talk. They are stupid," said the snake.

Harry frowned, not sure whether to amused or insulted. "No they're not. They speak English just like me."

The snake tilted its head in what Harry could only assume was confusion. "I too busy for this," it said and disappeared into the grass.

* * *

"Is it normal to understand snakes?" Harry asked the elves that night.

An old elf who usually worked quietly in the corner while the others chattered looked at him with a discomforting an intensity. "It's rare to speak the language of the snakes."

"I don't speak a different language. They understand me and speak in English."

"It may sound like English to you but we hear hissing."

Harry almost asked how that was possible but remembered that was a silly question when magic is involved. Instead he asked, "So why can I do it?"

"It is one of the many magical talents that run in some families."

"So one of my parents could speak this snake language? Its something I got from my family?" He felt excited for a moment at the thought of discovering another connection to his magical relatives.

"If they could, they hid their talent. Some consider it to be evil. Nobody has spoken it openly at Hogwarts since my great-grandfather worked here."

"I'm not doing anything bad. I just talk and listen," Harry said, a little defensively. The elf only nodded solemnly. "So who was that last person to speak to snakes?"

"A student named Tom Riddle. He was a strange boy. None of the house elves trusted him, even when he won a medal."

And so began the most disturbing story Harry had heard so far. He could not believe that Hagrid could have released a terrible monster on innocent students. There must have been a misunderstanding. A baby dragon was one thing but a monster that found and killed muggle-born student seemed like something that even Hagrid would admit is not cute and cuddly. As for the fact that a girl had died at Hogwarts - and continued to haunt the school - he did not know what to think. He and his friends had come close to death many times. He shivered at the thought of how close Hermione had come to being killed by a troll and tried not to imagine yet another girl's bathroom being haunted, with her ghost telling generations of girls to do their homework.

"What happened to Riddle after he left Hogwarts?" Harry asked but, for once, none of the elves knew.


	5. Chapter 5

As soon as the house-elves had mentioned that there was a magical village nearby, Harry knew he had to see it. He had not seen anyone but the house-elves in weeks and had not left the Hogwart's grounds since he arrived at the start of the school year. He immediately asked them for directions and set off early the next morning.

At last, he saw the tops of buildings and soon found himself in a wide street lined with shops. He looked around excitedly. There were a few wizards and witches walking around with shopping bags but it was far less chaotic than Diagon Alley. It reminded him of a scene out of a history book with the old-fashioned buildings and signs. Some of the products on display in the shop windows were clearly magical. He could not decide where to look first.

Suddenly something struck him from behind. He nearly fell over but managed to stumble to one side. He whirled around only to find a confused middle-aged witch standing where he had been a moment before.

"What's wrong, dear?" asked the man beside her.

"I thought I bumped into someone," she said, frowning and looking around.

Harry backed away slowly. Then he turned and ran, clutching his invisibility cloak around him. He should have known better than to stand in the middle of a busy street when he was invisible. His heart was pounding. His nearly forgotten fear of being found and returned to the Dursleys returned in full force.

Eventually, he realised there was no need to run but he was careful to avoid other people now and frequently glanced over his shoulder.

He spotted a newspaper stand and moved closer to look at the front pages. The headlines all seemed quite normal – some story about a popular singer and the end of a strike by magic carpet workers. He wondered whether that meant nobody had noticed he was missing.

Wanting to avoid other people after that near-miss, Harry walked towards the famous Shrieking Shack. He heard someone saying it was haunted but the house elves had told him that it had always been perfectly normal with the exception of seven years when villagers sometimes heard strange sounds. Those years had coincided with his parent's time at Hogwarts, which made Harry really want to know what actually happened there.

Eventually, he felt confident enough to return to exploring the village. He became quite used to swerving around people and rushing through doors before they closed behind someone. He enjoyed listening to conversations around him and finding out what bizarre things wizards seemed to buy regularly.

It was nearly dark by the time he returned to Hogwarts. He was eager to tell the house elves about his day and then collapse into bed.

But all thoughts of bed vanished when he saw a small figure seated at the bottom of the great staircase, as if waiting for him. He froze, terrified, knowing the mysterious person would have seen the massive front doors opening and closing.

He started breathing again when his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the castle and he realised that it was just a house elf. Something seemed odd about this one but he figured he was imagining it because he had just been startled. In any case, there was no reason to stay hidden since he trusted the house-elves.

"Hi," he said, pulling down the hood of his cloak.

The house elf stood up quickly. It was then that Harry realised he was not wearing the usual Hogwart's tea towel. Instead, he appeared to be wearing a very old pillowcase. He instantly regretted revealing himself. This elf was a stranger and Harry had no idea what his intentions were.

"Harry Potter," the elf exclaimed, bowing, "Such an honour…" He paused and frowned as Harry pulled the hood of his cloak back on. If someone had sent him to take Harry away, he would not make it easy.

"Who are you?" he asked, slowly walking towards the elf.

"Dobby," he elf replied, moving his head to track the source of Harry's voice.

"Why are you here?"

"Dobby has come to warn you. Terrible things will happen at Hogwarts. Harry Potter must leave now."

"What will happen?" he demanded, disturbed by the intensity of the Dobby's tone. "Did someone send you?"

But his questions seemed to upset Dobby. The little elf turned and hit his head against a nearby step, shouting, "Bad Dobby!"

"Stop!" Harry cried, quickly pulling the elf away from the stairs. The elves at Hogwarts could be disturbingly subservient but they never hurt themselves. He wondered what horrible master would want a house-elf to do that. Unfortunately, there way no way Dobby would be able to betray his master's trust enough to tell Harry.

"Please don't do that. Just tell me what you can," Harry said, as gently as he could.

Dobby stared at him, "Harry Potter is a great wizard." He paused and then said softly, "History will repeat itself." He immediately tried to punish himself but Harry caught him.

"What does that mean? History from how long ago? Dobby, I need to know this!"

"Fifty years," Dobby whispered.

Harry froze, remembering what he had been told about Tom Riddle and Hagrid. "That's when the Chamber of Secrets opened. But how? Who will open it?"

"Dobby can't say," replied the very distressed elf.

Harry sighed. "That's okay. Thank you for warning me."

"Harry Potter must leave Hogwarts and not come back this year," Dobby said, sounding more confident.

"I'm not leaving."

"Then Dobby must tell people that Harry Potter is here. Dobby must protect Harry Potter."

"No, wait!" Harry cried. He frantically tried to think of a reason to stay aside from the fact that he would rather take the risk facing a mysterious monster than definitely face his relatives. Dobby was looking at him expectantly. "The Chamber of Secrets hasn't opened yet, right? So it's still safe here."

Dobby nodded reluctantly. "But Harry Potter must leave soon."

"Yes, but there's no reason I can't stay for a while. Until September?"

Again, Dobby nodded reluctantly.

"So you won't tell anyone I'm here as long as I leave before September?" he confirmed.

"Dobby promises."

"Hang on. How did you know I was here?"

"Dobby was intercepting letters sent to Harry Potter's so -"

"What! Why?" Harry has missed hearing from his friends but he assumed owls just could not find him.

"Dobby was thinking if Harry Potter thought his friends had forgotten him he would not go back to Hogwarts. But then Dobby was seeing Harry Potter was already at Hogwarts." The elf held out a stack of letters.

Not wanting to upset Dobby anymore, Harry decided not to argue with his tactics. "Please give me my letters."

Dobby handed them over. "Dobby must go now," he said and vanished.

Harry was left alone with his stack of letters and the mess he had somehow got himself into. He had no choice but stay at Hogwarts for the next school year. It was his only real home and his only chance of getting a magical education. But then Dobby would tell everyone where he had been all summer. It would not be hard for them to confirm that the Dursleys had never seen him and he was pretty sure he would be expelled. It seemed that the only way to persuade Dobby to stay silent would be to make sure the Chamber of Secrets was not reopened.


	6. Chapter 6

With his thoughts full of images of terrifying monsters and Dobby's threat of telling everyone Harry's secret, it seemed odd to find the kitchen as it always was – brightly lit and full of busy, cheerful elves.

"Is master liking Hogsmeade?" one elf asked him while a few others started laying food and cutlery on a nearby table.

Harry had completely forgotten about his day at Hogsmeade. "Yeah, it was nice," he said quickly, "But then Dobby – he's a house-elf – told me that the Chamber of Secrets will open, but not until September, or maybe later, and he thinks I need to leave then and, if I don't, he'll tell everyone I'm here."

Harry paused to breathe. Every elf in the kitchen had stopped moving and their round eyes were fixed on him. He could see they were startled and confused. He started again, this time describing his encounter with Dobby in detail. There was silence when he finished.

"Why is Dobby thinking the Chamber of Secrets will open?" asked one elf.

"He wouldn't say. He wouldn't even tell me who he works for."

"Dobby is working for the Malfoy family."

"What!? As in Draco Malfoy's family?"

A few elves nodded.

"But then it could be a trick to try to stop me staying at Hogwarts! Maybe it was Malfoy's idea."

"If Dobby visited you because the Malfoy's ordered him to, he would not wait to tell them you are here," said one of the older elves, "It is likely that his information is correct. The Malfoy family were once accused of supporting You-Know-Who and some say they still use dark magic. Dobby may have overheard something. Of course, it is also possible that he misunderstood or that someone was merely pretending to know where the chamber is and how to control the creature within it."

Harry thought about how Malfoy had behaved in their first year. "I bet Malfoy is planning to open the chamber. He's horrible to everyone except other Slytherins and I'm not sure he would care if someone died."

"Draco Malfoy is still a child. There is a great difference between unkindness and murder. Your classmate may not be as bad as you think."

"But if it's not Malfoy then who else would open the chamber? Its supposed to be the heir of Slytherin, right? And Malfoy often boasts about his family history."

"It is impossible to know. So many generations have passed since Slytherin that his heir could be almost anyone."

* * *

Harry spent the rest of the night questioning the elves about the last time the chamber opened but still knew very little.

Even though he wasn't convinced that Hagrid opened the chamber the last time, he considered going down to Hagrid's hut and asking what happened. But that would probably mean telling Hagrid everything and he was pretty sure Hagrid would want to tell other people. That would ruin everything for Harry. What he really needed, Harry decided, was to investigate this on his own.

* * *

The next morning, Harry went to the bathroom that the elves had said was haunted by the girl who died fifty years ago. Despite having become accustomed to living in an almost deserted castle, he felt quite awkward about entering a girl's bathroom. He half expected angry shouts. Instead, when he opened the door and poked his head in, he only loud sobbing.

"Hello?" he called.

"Who's there?" came the startled reply.

He removed his invisibility cloak and stepped into the bathroom. "My name's Harry. Are you Myrtle?"

A ghost appeared through one of the stall doors. "Yes," she said, looking a little confused.

"Good. I really wanted to meet you because…" Harry paused, realising he should have planned this better. She might be offended if he said he was only interested in her death. "I've heard what happened to you. It sounds awful."

Surprisingly, she seemed pleased to talk about it. "It was dreadful!" She told Harry about sitting in a cubicle because someone teased her, hearing a boy talking in an unfamiliar language and dying instantly after seeing yellow eyes.

"Did you see the boy?"

"No."

"Did you see the monster, aside from the yellow eyes?"

"No."

"Did you recognise the language the boy was using?"

"No."

Harry must have looked frustrated because she added, "It had a lot of 's' sounds."

"Thanks," Harry said. He began looking around the bathroom in case it wasn't a coincidence that Mrytle died there. Examining the scene of a crime seemed like something a detective would do even though this was hardly a typical murder mystery. Not many detectives get to interview the ghost of the victim.

He noticed that one of the taps had a snake carved on it. He remembered what the house-elves had taught him about snakes. They were the symbol of Slytherin because Salazar Slytherin could speak Parseltongue. And Slytherin supposedly created the Chamber of Secrets. Mrytle had just said she heard an unfamiliar language with hissing sounds and that is how Parseltongue would sound to most people.

It was so much to think about. And, he reminded himself, he might just be getting excited about a random decoration.

Harry looked closely at the snake carving and asked, "Where is the Chamber of Secrets?"

Myrtle giggled. "Talking to yourself?"

"What? You could understand me?"

"Yes, of course."

Apparently he wasn't speaking Parseltongue. He looked at the carving again and this time tried to believe it was really a snake. "Where is the Chamber of Secrets?"

Myrtle gasped so he knew it had been Parseltongue but there was no reaction from the snake. He supposed it was a bit naïve of him to expect the carving to come to life and answer him. On a whim, he tried something more direct.

"Open," he commanded. The sink began to move and he jumped back shouting, "Stop! Close!" The last thing he wanted to do was release the monster himself. Thankfully, everything returned to its original position. Harry stepped back, breathing hard.

Mrytle was watching, wide-eyed and, for once, quiet.

"Um Mrtyle…I think this is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Whatever killed you came from under this sink," he said.

She floated closer. "That makes sense. Oh isn't that awful? I was just sitting there, crying, and all along that thing was…"

"Yeah, I know. Has anyone seemed unusually interested in that sink?"

"People don't like coming here. They say I annoy them." Mrytle sobbed.

"Someone might come back here soon and try open it. More students could be killed. We can't let that happen!"

"Of course, Harry. So what should I do first?" She asked eagerly.

Harry remembered he was talking to a ghost and an emotionally unstable one too. "Maybe you should stay here and guard the entrance."

"Okay."

"Well, it was nice meeting you," Harry said, reaching for his invisibility cloak.

"You will come back, right? Its very lonely here."

"Yeah, I will," he said although he wasn't looking forward to it.

Harry paused outside the bathroom, thinking about what he had just learned.

It seemed that only Parseltongues could open the Chamber of Secrets. So unless Hagrid had kept his abilities well hidden, it had been Riddle who opened the Chamber fifty years ago. Harry was furious that Hagrid had been expelled for no reason and that Riddle had actually got an award for supposedly revealing that Hagrid did it.

But that was fifty years ago and he needed to focus on the present. If Dobby was right, there would be another Parseltongue and heir of Slytherin at Hogwarts in the coming school year. That was who Harry needed to stop.

If Riddle was the heir Slytherin, the next heir of Slytherin should be a relative of his. That person could also inherit the ability to speak Parseltongue and be taught by the family how to open the Chamber of Secrets and control whatever was inside it.

The only problem was that the house-elves had already told him they knew nothing about Riddle's family or about what happened to the boy after he graduated from Hogwarts. Unable to think of anything else to do, Harry set off for the library.

He spent several hours searching through books on genealogy and recent magical history but found no mention of Tom Riddle. Even the surname Riddle did not seem to exist among witches and wizards. According to every book he found, Parseltongue had almost vanished with some families of Parselmouths, like the Gaunts, dying out decades ago. He wondered if Hermione, with her research abilities and love of books, would have been able to quickly find the information he wanted.

He gave up and instead started looking for books about magical creatures, hoping to figure out what had killed Myrtle. All he had to go by was that it had yellow eyes. After a while, he noticed a book on magical reptiles and realised that Salazar Slytherin may well have chosen some snake-like creature. He began flipping through the book, pausing only when he saw yellow eyes in the illustrations. He made a list of possible candidates.

Then he came across a description of basilisks. They lived for long enough that one could still be alive from Slytherin's time. Just looking at their yellow eyes killed someone, which explained why Mrytle could not remember anything after seeing the eyes. And, although the book did not say, he suspected that they could follow the orders of a Parseltongue.

He knew so much and yet he still had no idea how to prevent the chamber from being opened. He felt as if all of his research was for nothing.

Harry stood, feeling stiff from sitting all day, and went to the kitchens to tell the house-elves what he had discovered. They were upset to hear there was a basilisk in the school. Some of the younger elves looked terrified.

They immediately arranged to always have an elf posted in Myrtle's bathroom in case the Heir of Slytherin arrived early. The house-elves might be very small but, unlike Myrtle, they were solid and could do surprisingly advanced magic. But this was hardly a permanent solution.

The house-elves remembered something that Harry had forgotten. Dobby clearly knew more than he had told Harry, possibly even the identity of the Heir of Slytherin. He would need to find Dobby and that would mean venturing outside of Hogwarts.


	7. Chapter 7

Harry had just sat down in the library the next morning when a house-elf appeared in front of him. He jumped in surprise.

"We found Dobby. He's in the kitchens, waiting for you," said the elf.

Harry was surprised. The elves had said they would try to contact Dobby but he had not realised they would be so quick. He quickly followed the elf to the kitchens. The other elves had formed a circle around Dobby, who looked very nervous.

"Harry Potter is wanting to speak to Dobby?" asked Dobby.

"That's right. What have you heard about the plans to open the Chamber of Secrets?"

"Dobby cannot say," said the elf miserably with a frightened glance at the house-elves around him. He looked cornered and Harry was worried he would vanish at any moment.

He wondered what he could ask without upsetting Dobby. Then he remembered that, despite Dobby's tiny height, he was not speaking to a small child. Rather than coaxing the information out of Dobby, he could try to convince Dobby to help him. So he told Dobby what he had discovered. He left out the exact location of the Chamber of Secrets and the method of opening it, in case Dobby was actually spying for the Malfoys. But he described what a basilisk was with emphasis on its large fangs and deadly eyes and he talked about Myrtle's death and his fear that more students would die like she did.

He finished by saying, "Please help us, Dobby. I'm so scared that the basilisk will be released soon and kill a lot of students. Basilisks are really hard to kill. The only hope we have of stopping it is to make sure the chamber is not opened. And you're the only one who can help us find out who will do that."

"Harry Potter is wanting to protect students. Harry Potter is a great wizard! Dobby is wanting to help. But nobody is opening the Chamber of Secrets. Master is having a diary. He is telling mistress about it. And this diary is causing the chamber to open if a Hogwarts student is using it."

Harry paused. Despite everything he had learned about magic, he didn't understand how a diary could do that. The other elves seemed equally confused.

"We need to see this diary. Dobby, can you bring it to us?"

Dobby shook his head quickly. "Dobby cannot take master's things. Witches and wizards are forbidding all house elves from taking their things."

"People could die because of it! There must be some way."

Dobby hesitated. "Dobby cannot give the diary to Harry Potter. But if Harry Potter is taking the diary then Dobby is not stopping him."

"Oh. So where is it?"

"In the master's study."

"Wait, it's in the Malfoy's house? I can't go in there! A family that rich must have really good security. And they'd probably put some awful curse on me if they caught me."

Dobby shook his head. "Dobby is taking Harry Potter into the manor so wards are not stopping Harry Potter."

"Alright. But I could still be discovered inside."

Dobby shook his head again. "The family is in Italy. They is not coming back this week."

Harry thought about it for a moment. "That sounds okay then. Can you take me there now?"

There was a cry of protest from several of the Hogwarts house-elves. "Harry Potter is not going into dark wizard's home. Harry Potter is too young!"

"But I'll be fine! Nobody will be there except Dobby and he can show me where to go!"

There was some more arguing but gradually the elves resigned themselves to Harry's stubbornness and started giving advice. They warned him that there would be portraits watching but he reminded them that he would be wearing his invisibility cloak. He assured him that he would not touch anything except the diary and that he would not go anywhere else in the manor house for any reason. At their insistence, he and Dobby planned exactly what they would do.

"Harry Potter is ready?" Dobby asked finally.

Harry felt a shiver go down his spine. He had heard so many horrible things about the Malfoys and the idea of being in their house with a house-elf he barely knew was disturbing. But, he reminded himself, it was necessary.

"Yeah, I'm ready," he said. Dobby held out a tiny hand to Harry and he bent down and took it.

He felt a horrible squeezing sensation and immediately wondered if something had gone wrong. Perhaps Dobby was killing him. But then he felt the ground beneath his feet and fell to his knees on an unfamiliar carpet. For a moment, he couldn't see anything but, as his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he saw that he was in a large room lined with bookshelves. There were windows but they were covered by thick, dark curtains. Dobby was already busy dusting the bookshelves with magic. A large portrait depicted some pompous looking wizard in elaborate, old-fashioned robes who was watching Dobby with an air of dignified boredom. So far, their plan was working.

Harry tiptoed over to where Dobby was standing and looked for the box containing the diary, which Dobby was supposed to lead him to. Sure enough, there was a small ornately carved wooden box on the sixth shelf.

What Dobby had not mentioned was that it was higher than he could reach. Sometimes he really hated being short for his age. He could easily have levitated it down to him but there was no way the portrait would fail to notice that, even in a dark room. So, being careful not to trip on the bottom of his cloak, Harry stepped onto the edge of the bottom shelf and slowly climbed up the shelves until he was finally able to reach the lid of the box.

He glanced down. Dobby was gone. It did not take long to magically clean a room so Dobby had to move elsewhere to avoid making the portraits suspicious. They had expected to have the diary within a few seconds but luckily had a back-up plan that Dobby would continue cleaning rooms in a certain direction until Harry found him. It was unnerving to be alone.

He tried to open the box but felt a sharp pain in his hand, as if the lid had burned him. He gasped and nearly fell of the bookshelf. The sensation faded quickly but he remained frozen in fear. The portrait was looking around with a frown, having obviously heard him gasp. He did not dare open the box while it was so alert. Plus he was afraid of touching the box again.

After a few minutes, he tentatively poked the lid with one finger. There was no pain. So he eased the lid open a little, reached inside it and pulled the diary out, quickly hiding it under his cloak. He grinned for a moment before remembering that he was alone in the Malfoy's house. The rest of the house was equally sinister looking and his search for Dobby seemed to take forever. But eventually he found the elf and soon he was sitting on the floor of the Hogwart's kitchn, surrounded by familiar house elves who seemed very happy and surprised to see him alive. Overall, Harry thought, that had been ridiculously easy.


	8. Chapter 8

Harry sat in his room, frowning at the diary. He had been very disappointed to find that it was not, as he had hoped, full of instructions of some sort. After thoroughly examining it and finding nothing unusual, the elves had told Harry not to mess around with it. It might still be a powerful magic object, capable of causing great harm, one explained.

Of course, Harry did not listen. He tried a few basic spells designed to reveal information about an object but, despite weeks of extra practice, his magical abilities were still very limited and he found nothing. He also tried ripping and burning one of the pages and was excited to find it was apparently indestructible. That at least was unusual but, aside from that, he was gradually starting to feel that the diary was no better than an ordinary Muggle notebook. The only thing that stopped him from throwing it away was the words "T.M. Riddle," a tantalising reminder that it must, in some way, be linked to the opening of the Chamber of Secrets.

Eventually, Harry decided to try treating it like the ordinary, harmless diary that it so perfectly imitated in the desperate hope that he could trigger something magical to happen. He grabbed a pot of ink and a quill but paused with the quill hovering above the blank page, recalling the strong warnings the elves had given him about the kind of dark objects that wizards like the Malfoys owned. As he thought, a drop of ink fell from his quill, landed on the diary and disappeared. Harry gasped, feeling excited to finally discover something unusual about the diary.

"Hello," he wrote. The word faded and new words appeared.

"Hello. My name is Tom Riddle. What is your name?"

Harry stared at the words for a while. Surely this could not be the actual Tom Riddle writing to him. Nobody had seen or heard of Riddle since he left Hogwarts and, if the old man was still alive and somehow controlled the diary from a distance, it would be a remarkable coincidence for him to be ready to respond so quickly. But in any case, he could not risk revealing who he was.

"My name is Neville and I'm 11. How old are you?" he wrote, trying to sound childish enough that, if there was a dark wizard was behind this, he would be uninterested in Harry.

"I am only a memory of myself at sixteen years old."

"Do you know about the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry wrote, feeling impatient to get some answers.

Riddle responded with the story of students being attacked and him getting a trophy for supposedly finding the person who opened it. None of this was new to Harry since he had heard it all from the house-elves. He still believed Riddle was responsible for opening the chamber. If he wanted anything more than the official story, which involved lies about Hagrid, he would need Riddle to confess his involvement. So he tried a different approach. "Did Slytherin really create the chamber so that the monster in it could kill muggleborn students?"

"That is true according to legend."

"I was raised by Muggles and they were horrible to me. I hate them," Harry wrote. This much was true. Harry did not actually have anything against other Muggles but Riddle didn't need to know that. He needed Riddle, or whatever the diary really was, to trust him.

"I am sorry to hear that. It must have been very difficult. I can understand how you feel because I was also raised by Muggles. Young wizards should not be exposed to those inferior beings."

Riddle was starting to reveal his true nature so Harry continued with his tactic. "Do you think the children of Muggles should be allowed into Hogwarts? I don't."

"I agree that Hogwarts should only accept students whose magic is pure."

Harry felt a wave of anger. Hermione was far better at magic than any so called pureblood in his year. He had to resist the urge to write that. Instead he wrote, "Will the monster in the Chamber of Secrets make Muggleborn students go away?"

"Perhaps. But only an heir of Slytherin has the ability to open it."

"So if Hagrid did it last time, I can ask him to do it again. I can help him."

"That fool has no relationship to Slytherin. It was I who located the Chamber fifty years ago and commanded the monster within to rid the school of unworthy students. Then some silly girl died and the professors started talking about shutting down Hogwarts. I couldn't allow that. So I told them it was Hagrid, closed the chamber, and created this diary so that it could one day be reopened."

Harry stared at the boastful confession as it faded away. He wasn't exactly fond of Mrytle but he hated to see her murderer dismiss her death and its aftermath as if it were an annoying inconvenience. He was also furious at Riddle for getting Hagrid expelled. But he had to stay calm. "Wow." He wrote. "What is the monster in the chamber?"

"It is a basilisk, which is a giant snake that kills with its venom and its eyes."

Harry felt a little smug at seeing his suspicion confirmed but mostly scared that such a deadly animal was in the school. He needed to keep encouraging Riddle by seeming enthusiastic. He wrote, "That sounds awesome." He thought briefly about how much to should tell Riddle but decided it might be necessary if he wanted to learn more about the chamber and basilisk. "I love snakes. Sometimes they talk to me."

"Do you mean that you are a Parselmouth, one who can speak with snakes?"

"I guess so."

"What is your surname?"

He thought back to his original lie and decided to continue with it, hoping Riddle would continue to believe his lies. "Longbottom."

"I was not aware that there were Parselmouths among them although they are purebloods. In any case, it is an ability you should be proud of. It is also all that is necessary to control the basilisk. It appears that Salazar Slytherin trained it to obey any Parselmouth that declares an intention to continue Slytherin's goal of purifying the school. Do not listen to those who may tell you bad things about your ability. With my guidance, you can help me return the world to how it should be – with Muggles like those who mistreated you cowering before us."

Harry sat frozen for a moment before scribbling, "I have to go" and closing the diary.

A minute later, he burst into the kitchen, grinning happily and slightly out of breath from running. "I can control the basilisk," he announced. Then he realised that the elves had all gathered together surrounding one elf. Dobby had returned to Hogwarts and he looked terrified. Harry's smile vanished. "What happened?"

An older elf answered. "Lucius Malfoy contacted Dobby. Did you notice any sign of a spell on the box that contained the diary."

Harry could barely breathe. "It sort of stung me," he said. "I forgot about it because I was so relieved to get out with the diary."

"The box was made to detect when someone other than its owner touches it. Lucius Malfoy has been alerted and will return to the manor house soon. Once he examines the box, he will find the magical equivalent of your fingerprint on it."

"Will I be expelled?" Harry asked quietly.

The elf gave him a sympathetic smile. "That is unlikely. Malfoy has powerful contacts but he cannot have you punished without evidence. The spell on the box is not reliable enough to be considered in a trial. Also if Malfoy were to force Dobby to testify, there would be accusations that he had ordered Dobby to lie or even planted false memories."

Harry gasped. "Dobby, you're not in trouble for helping me, are you?"

The trembling elf turned his wide eyes to him. "Dobby is bad. Master is punishing him soon."

"I'm sorry," he said, feeling extremely guilty. He didn't want to imagine what Malfoy would be like when he was angry.

"Harry Potter is not safe from punishment either," another other elf continued. "Lucius Malfoy's claims will only be dismissed if you were where everyone expects at the time of the theft. That is to say someone will need to check with you and your relatives that you were at their house with no means of travelling across the country and sneaking onto the Malfoy's property."

"But I wasn't," said Harry gloomily.

Some of the Hogwarts house elves exchanged looks. After a moment, one said, "We have already made a plan."


	9. Chapter 9

It was a warm sunny afternoon and Vernon Dursely was smiling as her drove home from work. It was approaching a year since he had left that Potter boy in Kings Cross Station with instructions to wait at a platform that surely did not exist. Although he and his wife had raised that boy for ten years, he was not the least bit concerned that he had not heard from the boy since then. In fact, he was relieved. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened during the boy's absence and that was how things should be. As he pulled into his driveway, he wondered what Petunia would have ready for his dinner. He had noticed a decline in the quality of meals since the boy stopped cooking them but that was a small sacrifice in return for such a wonderfully peaceful, ordinary life.

With that thought, he opened his front door to find Petunia standing absolutely still in the doorway of their living room. She did not acknowledge his arrival and he could not hear or smell any signs of cooking. He had already opened his mouth to tell her off when he noticed her expression of fear and disgust.

He followed her gaze downwards to the dozen or so strange creatures standing in the living room. They were small with creepy eyes and large, floppy ears. They appeared to be wearing towels instead of proper clothes. Above all they were certainly not normal and they had no business being in his living room.

"Get out!" he roared, waving his arms as if her were shooing away a swarm of flies.

"We will leave as soon as we have discussed an important matter. It will not take long," said one creature calmly.

Mr Dursley shivered. That thing could talk. In fact, it sounded intelligent. "What are you?" he demanded.

"We are house elves and we have come to talk about arrangements for your nephew."

Of course the boy has something to do with this, Mr Dursely thought. Even after a year, they still could not escape his abnormality. He was surprised and a little irritated when his wife spoke next.

"So if we talk to you, you'll go back to the North Pole or wherever and never bother us again?" Petunia asked, her voice trembling slightly.

The elves nodded. Some of them looked amused but the one that spoke had a serious expression. "In the following days, someone will visit to ask about Harry Potter's whereabouts last night. You will say that he was in this house – he ate dinner with you, watched television with you, and then slept in his room. If they ask to see him, you will say that he is visiting a Muggle friend. Furthermore, you will maintain his room as if he still occupied it."

Mr Dursley interrupted. "What has the boy done now? I won't lie to protect him from whatever punishment he deserves."

"We know that you mistreated him. He has not said much but we listened carefully and he gave away more than he thought. You did not feed him enough. You forced him to sleep in a cupboard and locked him in it when he accidentally used magic."

"This – this is outrageous! How dare you make such accusations?" Mr Dursely said.

"It would not be difficult to prove if someone chose to investigate. You made him do more housework than any child should have to do, including things that he was not old enough to do safely. You verbally abused him and encouraged your son to hurt him."

"We didn't ask to be responsible for him," Petunia protested.

"Nonetheless you were and yet you neglected your duties. Usually, there would be severe consequences, under both Muggle and magical law. But this is not a usual case. Harry Potter is famous among magical humans and other beings. If they knew how you treated their hero, many would want revenge."

The elf paused to let this sink in. Mr and Mrs Dursley trembled and said nothing.

"We are willing to hide your awful secret for now but only if you continue to convince everyone that Harry Potter is living with you every summer until he turns seventeen. Will you do that?"

Mr and Mrs Dursley nodded frantically.

"You mean he won't be coming back here?" Mr Dursely asked hesitantly.

"He will not," the elf replied decisively, "He is safer with us."

There was nothing more to say. The elves vanished leaving the terrified Dursleys staring at the now empty living room.

In another house in a nearby street, several cats dove under a sofa and Mrs Figg shouted in surprise as the elves began a similar message in her living room, accusing her of ignoring evidence and not intervening to protect Harry.

* * *

Although Harry was overjoyed to hear that the Dursleys would be his alibi for the night he took the diary and more importantly that he never needed to live with the Dursleys again, he still had something to worry about. If Dobby followed through with his threat to reveal that Harry stayed at Hogwarts during the summer, he feared he would soon find himself back with the Dursleys, regardless of anything the elves could do. Plus the elves could get in trouble for helping him. He needed to convince Dobby that it would be safe for him to remain at Hogwarts during the coming school year and that would not be possible so long as a basilisk waited somewhere in the school, ready to slither out of the girls bathroom.

He tried discussing it with Dobby.

"The diary teaches people how to open the Chamber of Secrets. I can keep it hidden so the heir of Slytherin never gets to use it." He did not particularly want to keep it but, since neither he nor any of the elves could find a way to destroy it, he had not choice. "So there's nothing to worry about."

Dobby looked at him stubbornly. "Harry Potter is finding the Chamber of Secrets without the diary. Riddle is doing the same fifty years ago. So why is not someone else finding it?"

Harry sighed. The elf had a good point. "But we both just got lucky and I had a lot of information from the elves. Plus if someone does open it, I need to be in Hogwarts so I can tell the basilisk to stop."

"Harry Potter is not knowing that the basilisk is listening to him when another Parselmouth is already controlling it."

That was true. He had no idea how the basilisk would handle contradicting orders from two Parselmouths and did not want to find out. But he also did not want to get in trouble for staying at Hogwarts and have to return to the Dursleys. He was willing to take the risk of facing a basilisk that he could not control, if only Dobby would let him.

Unfortunately it did not seem likely that Dobby would budge so long as the basilisk lived in Hogwarts. For Harry, this lead to one very clear conclusion that he knew nobody, especially the very protective house elves, would agree to. He needed to kill the basilisk.

* * *

Harry had avoided going anywhere near Hagrid's hut all summer for fear of being discovered. That night, however, he sat by a window in the castle, waiting impatiently for the glowing light coming from the hut to vanish.

Then he set off quickly across the grounds. The muffled sound of snoring came from within the hut as he walked passed, confirming that Hagrid was asleep. He did not dare use any light so he stumbled around in the dark, tripping over gardening tools and walking into fences.

Finally he located the chicken coop. As he opened the door, the chickens began to stir and then to squawk as he accidentally tripped over some of them. He heard Fang bark once from within the hut and a grumbled response. After a few minutes of standing very still, surrounded by chickens, there was still no sign of movement from within the hut.

Being careful not to touch any more chickens, he cast a gentle version of the stunning spell on a nearby rooster and carefully lifted it. Carrying the unconscious rooster under his invisibility cloak, he returned to the castle as quietly as he could.

* * *

The next morning, Harry was startled awake by the sound of a rooster crowing very nearby. He quickly reached for his glasses and realised that the rooster had regained consciousness and was now wandering around his room, apparently searching for food. He reached for his wand next and stunned the rooster again. Soon he was fully dressed. Too nervous to even think about breakfast, he quickly got dressed and left the room with his broom, his invisibility cloak, and the rooster.

He walked into the girl's bathroom, startling the elf that had been dutifully standing guard over the opening to the Chamber of Secrets all night. He lowered the hood of his invisibility cloak to reveal who he was but kept the rooster hidden.

"What is Harry Potter doing here?" the elf asked politely as he relaxed. Myrtle drifted through the door of a stall, looking curious.

"I need to go into the Chamber of Secrets. There's something I can do."

"Harry Potter is not being safe there!"

"It's important. Ask the other elves. They will agree."

The elf paused to think before saying, "We is having a meeting in the kitchen to talk about this."

"Okay. I'll just wait here. Someone needs to guard the Chamber."

"I can do that," Myrtle interrupted proudly.

"Someone solid!" he said impatiently. Myrtle looked so hurt that he added, "I'll be your backup."

Myrtle smiled and drifted into position in front of opening to the Chamber.

As soon as the elf vanished from the bathroom, Harry said, "I'm sorry Myrtle." Then he focused on the snake engraving on the tap and exclaimed, "Open!" The tap glowed and spun.

"Stop!" Myrtle shouted but the sink behind her had already started to move. Soon the large pipe beneath it was accessible. Myrtle rose above the opening, holding out her transparent arms as if to push him away. "Don't do it," she pleaded.

"I have to," Harry said, feeling incredibly guilty as he mounted his broom and flew into the hole, going right through Myrtle. It was an incredibly cold, unpleasant sensation.

"Be careful, Harry!" he heard Myrtle shout into the pipe as he drifted downwards, "Remember how easily it killed me!"

After a surprisingly long time, he reached the bottom of the pipe and found himself in a tunnel. He landed and put his broom on the floor. He really hoped he could return to it soon. He lit his wand and pointed his wand into the darkness. Then he started walking.

He followed the tunnel for what seemed like an eternity until he found a wall with carvings of two snakes. At his Parseltongue command, the wall opened.

Looking into the large room, lined with pillars, he knew without doubt that he had reached the Chamber of Secrets. Somewhere nearby, a giant, lethal basilisk was waiting, having been confined to the Chamber since it killed Myrtle fifty years ago.

He walked to the end of the Chamber and looked up at the incredibly large statue of what he could only assume was Slytherin. It seemed so typical of Slytherin to want a monument to himself.

"I am the heir of Slytherin," he said but he was so nervous that he could hardly hear his own voice. He swallowed and reluctantly repeated himself a little louder, "I am the heir of Slytherin!"

His words echoed in the silent chamber. He strongly suspected that he had spoken in English. He concentrated on one of the snake carvings wrapped around a nearby pillar and said, "I am the heir of Slytherin and, um, I'm here to, um, purify the school."

He gasped as mouth of the statue of Slytherin start to open. For a moment, he stared in terror at the widening hole, knowing what would emerge from it. Then he remembered to squeeze his eyes shut and, just to be sure, covered them with the hand he was not using to hold the rooster. In that moment, he felt very much like the eleven-year-old boy he was.

A sinister, unfamiliar voice rang through the Chamber, making Harry shudder. "Hungry! So hungry! Time to kill!"

He really wanted to turn and run out of the Chamber, to the safety of the school above that had become his home. Even the Dursleys would be better than a bloodthirsty basilisk, eager for Harry-sized prey. But, so long as this monster lived beneath the castle, nobody at Hogwarts would be safe. He could already hear its massive body slithering onto the floor of the Chamber; he needed to focus.

"I smell blood," hissed the basilisk from somewhere alarmingly close. "Kill! Kill!"

He pulled his wand from his pocket and clumsily directed it towards the rooster, keeping his actions hidden beneath his cloak. "Rennervate," he muttered. The rooster did not stir. With his eyes still closed, he could not even be sure he was pointing his wand in the right direction and he had never performed this spell, or really any spell, under such pressure.

"I smell badness." The basilisk sounded suspicious, in as much as its strange voice could convey the emotions of humans and good creatures.

Harry realised that the basilisk could detect the scent of the rooster.

"Enervate!" he said desperately. Still nothing. He began to really panic, certain that the snake would pounce on him at any moment.

Then he remembered the ridiculous claim he had made in order to lure the basilisk out of its nest. But for all the basilisk knew, he could be the heir of Slytherin, eager to follow his distant ancestor's murderous obsession with blood purity. Riddle had believed him.

"Ignore the smell!" He commanded, trying to sound confident, "I have been killing roosters in preparation for your release so my robes may be contaminated with their scent. I have opened this chamber on the instructions of my grandfather, Tom Riddle. The mudbloods are not yet in the castle but there will be plenty for you to kill in a few weeks. First look away from me so that I can see you, great basilisk of Slytherin."

He heard the massive body shifting. He did not risk actually looking at it but instead looked down the front of his cloak at the rooster and his wand. Now that he was able to see what he was doing and could focus since he seemed a little less likely to die at any second, he easily revived the rooster. As it began to squirm in his arms, he said the incantation for a spell that he had found in a dense book on magical poultry farming, intended to let owners control when their roosters crowed.

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

It seemed like the most beautiful sound Harry had ever heard.

There was a loud, angry hiss followed by a massive thump that shook the floor. Cautiously, Harry lifted his head and finally looked at the basilisk. It was even larger than he had imagined. But it was also lying unmoving at the feet of the statue of Slytherin.

He felt numb with relief as he retraced his steps out of the chamber, picked up his broom and flew back to Myrtle's bathroom, where several very worried looking house elves and one tearful ghost were waiting for him.


	10. Chapter 10

"What did you do in the Chamber of Secrets?" ask one of the older elves in a very serious tone.

Harry suddenly felt very self-conscious. He took off his invisibility cloak and held out the rooster, which was flapping its wings as it attempted to escape. "The book I found said that basilisks die when they hear a rooster crow. So I brought a rooster down there and, well...the basilisk died."

The house elves just looked at him. Harry knew that look.

"I didn't have a choice!" he protested, "Dobby was determined to so called save me even it meant getting me expelled. If that happened, the Dursleys would have no choice but to take me back! And think how angry they would be if I returned when they were so sure they had finally got rid of me."

"It was a huge risk to take. Especially alone."

Now Harry felt irritated. Although he had not physically killed the basilisk with a sword or something ridiculous like that, it had still been very difficult facing a giant, bloodthirsty basilisk. The last thing he needed now as a full inquisition by elves. "Yeah, I know. But I've done it. It's over. So there's nothing to talk about." With that, he put down the struggling rooster, trying to appear dignified, and walked angrily towards the bathroom door.

"Harry Potter is forgetting something," called an elf, a little slyly. "Harry Potter is not wearing his invisibility cloak and now is a bad time to be revealed because some professors have returned to Hogwarts."

"What?" Harry exclaimed, caught off guard.

"Surely Harry Potter is not thinking that the professors arrive at the same time as the students? They must make preparations for the school year. It is unfortunate that they are arriving now when Hagrid has just reported a missing rooster. Also the Ministry of Magic is still shocked by Lucius Malfoy's claims that you are responsible for stolen property, including a missing house elf."

"You mean Dobby? Malfoy thinks I stole Dobby? How can I steal an intelligent, magical being?"

"House elves are considered property," the elf replied, with the impatient tone of one who has explained something many too many times.

"Well they shouldn't be." Harry began to feel uncomfortable. "I'm sorry I worried all of you."

"Harry Potter does not need to apologise to house elves. Wizards never need to apologise."

"That's not true. You do deserve an apology. You've done a lot to protect me and I almost wasted your efforts by rushing into danger." He sighed, "I guess I do that a lot."

"Harry Potter has seen many bad things in so few years. We are forgiving Harry Potter if Harry Potter is sure that nothing like this will happen again."

"Thanks. I'll go back to my room now. Stay out of the way of the professors."

* * *

The walk back to his room was scary. Harry had become accustomed to roaming around Hogwarts without seeing anyone. Certainly, there were the elves but they kept hidden. And the portraits seemed to sleep almost constantly now that there were nobody in the school to disturb or entertain them. On the rare occasion that they were awake, they dismissed Harry's passing footsteps as noises naturally creating by the old castle. Hagrid very rarely went into the castle itself and generally stayed near his hut. As for the ghosts, many were so lost in their own worlds that they did not react at all when he moved things in their vicinity. He was amused to wander into the history classroom one day to find Professor Binns talking about goblin rebellions, apparently not realising that the students were on holiday.

Now Harry saw Professor Snape looking almost cheerful as he levitated several potion vials towards the hospital wing. Then he turned a corner and found Professor McGonagall lecturing Peeves about a destroyed classroom. Luckily, he knew the castle perfectly after exploring it so much and could pick between a several alternative routes, giving the professors a lot of space. They felt oddly like intruders in a castle that seemed to belong to the elves.

* * *

Back in his room, Harry grabbed a quill, opened the diary and wrote, "The basilisk is dead." He knew it was immature but wanted Riddle to know that there was no hope of training another heir of Slytherin.

There was a pause. "You are lying."

"It's the truth. I brought a rooster into the chamber."

"Impossible! I did not instruct you on how to open the chamber. I did not even tell you where to find it! It took me years to locate it."

"Have you forgotten that the girl you murdered is still haunting the girl's bathroom where she saw the basilisk?"

"How dare you? That creature was greater than your infantile brain can comprehend. It was trained by Slytherin himself in a noble cause – cleansing the school of those who are unworthy of learning magic. You had no right to interfere. I will ensure that you do not live long, Neville Longbottom."

Harry had been almost amused at the diary's angry, despairing rant until the last words appeared. What if the diary really did have power? Perhaps it could contact dangerous people who shared its Muggle-hating attitude.

"I'm not Neville. Leave him alone."

"Why should I believe you now?"

His heart pounded as he confessed, "I'm Harry Potter."

"That name means nothing to me."

That really surprised Harry. Every witch, wizard, centaur, and house elf he had ever met recognised him instantly and knew what happened when he was a baby. Then he remembered that the diary was a fifty-year-old memory so it was created long before he became famous or even existed. It apparently had no recent information except what Harry wrote in it.

"I'm nobody special."

"Why did you kill the basilisk?"

"It was dangerous. It was going to kill students."

"It would not kill pureblood students, only those who were raised as savage Muggles, like your awful aunt and uncle. How did that feel, Harry, to be greater and more powerful than any Muggle could imagine and yet to be treated as if you were worth less than them?"

He thought for a moment. Above all else, he wanted to know why nobody had ever heard of Riddle after he left Hogwarts. He would need to flatter Riddle into helping him.

"I hated it. It felt wrong. But I will have to go back to them soon. Can you help me, Tom? I want to get revenge and make sure they never come near me again. I'm sure you can help." He hated how easily the words came to him. He was very angry with the Dursleys now that he was no longer so afraid.

"In this diary, I am only a memory. But my real self is incredibly powerful. What you did to that basilisk is unforgivable and yet it shows some cunning. Oh yes, you could be a worthy follower. Tell me, Harry, would you like to make an oath of allegiance to my adult self. I will, of course, kill your aunt and uncle by whatever means you choose - a long, painful death. I am sure I will have your eternal gratitude for that. And you will help me achieve great things. Would you like that Harry?"

"It sounds very interesting," he wrote, although alarm bells were going off in his head. "But who am I meant to follow. Who are you really?"

"Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Harry frowned. That was unhelpful. He was about to write that when a circle appeared around the I in Riddle then the letter was copied below. Then a circle appeared around the A in Marvalo and the letter appeared next to the I below. He stopped breathing as the process continued until every letter in Riddle's name was circled and the terrifying message, "I am Lord Voldemort" had been formed.

Harry dropped his quill, scattering ink all over the open pages. He moved his chair back. Then he leapt up and moved further away. He stared in horror at the diary. Could that thing really be a part of Voldemort - the demented, murderous teenager who had grown up to kill Harry's parents and countless others?

Suddenly he was spurred into motion again. He needed to destroy the diary. It could not exist any longer. He cast every destructive spell he knew. He tried to set it on fire. In desperation, he even tried to rip it apart but, although the pages felt like mere paper, they did not rip. It was hopeless.

He threw the diary onto the floor and sat down on his bed, burying his head in his hands. Then a thought occurred to him. Hermione would always know more than him but he was far from the ignorant boy that he was just a few weeks ago. He plucked a potions book of a shelf and flipped through it until he found the passage he remembered reading about basilisk venom. It described how toxic the substance was to any living thing and that only certain types of containers could hold it because it could damage so many materials. It then went on to say that basilisk venom was one of the most rare and expensive potion ingredients so it was unlikely that any reader would have the opportunity to use it.

It's worth a try, Harry thought as he walked back towards the Chamber of Secrets with his invisibility cloak and the diary.


End file.
